While Batman and Gotham try and put The Joker War behind them, two of the city’s newest vigilantes are about to collide.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Batman #102 by James Tynion IV, Carlo Pagulayan, Danny Miki, and Carlos D’Anda, on sale now.
As Gotham City recovers from the devastation of Joker’s war, Batman, Oracle, and Harley Quinn are all working in their own ways to rebuild their networks and their lives. Threats are still out there including Grinners, dangerous for-hire thugs who have been exposed to some variation of Joker’s toxin, corrupt cops, and the Clownhunter.
A new threat, though, has come to Gotham in the form of a vigilante who wants to fix the city and do the things necessary that Batman won’t do. Ghost-Maker has set up shop in Gotham and makes it his mission to eliminate all crime, which puts him on a collision course with the Clownhunter.
Clownhunter, Bao Pham, was born and raised in Gotham Narrows and suffered a great loss at the hands of the Joker, who didn’t just kill his parents, but turned them into zombified versions of themselves using the Designer’s chemical formula. Pham idolized Batman until he realized that Batman really doesn’t do everything he can to help save people. If he did, he would have killed the Joker long ago. Pham then decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes Clownhunter, a vigilante who targets the Joker and anyone associated with him.
Batman confronted Clownhunter in the aftermath of Joker’s war and told him to get some professional help and even gave him Leslie Thompkins’ card. Batman warned Pham that if kept killing clowns, he’ll come after him. In Batman #102, the Dark Knight has staked out the Smile Bar where the Grinners like to hideout and hang low waiting for the Joker’s return. Since Batman is on his own now and his resources have been severely cut, he asked Oracle, Barbara Gordon, to help him map out the bar so he doesn’t have to go in blind. When he crashes into the bar, he finds everyone inside dead. He first thought this was the work of Clownhunter, but a sketch on the wall makes him realize he’s dealing with someone new.